


What makes a family

by BabyBlainers



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Adoption, Foster Care, Growing Old Together, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Old Married Spirk Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-30 21:48:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8550361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyBlainers/pseuds/BabyBlainers
Summary: Starting a family is never easy, but starting one after retirement...well, it only takes Jim and Spock's courage. The small story of how they created their big, big family.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So, a few notes!
> 
> This started as an innocent post on tumblr that I completely lost control of. It was meant to be a simple headcanon, but I was having so much fun writing it that it ended up becoming a one-shot.  
> This is my first fanfic in almost a decade, and definitely the first one I write in English (my first language is Italian).  
> I welcome and appreciate any suggestions you might have about grammar/flow/plot. Don't hold back! I'm always looking for ways to improve my English.  
> That said, I hope you enjoy my little work despite the language barrier.  
> Before starting, please note that character death is referenced, even though it's not described in detail and it's not what the fanfiction is about. it seemed excessive to put the major character death warning, but I wanted to warn you nonetheless.

Neither Jim nor Spock had planned their post-retirement life in particular detail. Sure, they had hobbies, and they rationally supposed they’d indulge in them a bit more frequently than before, but retirement had always been more of an abstract concept than something they seriously spent thought on.

The first few months are a bit hard. They fight. They make up. They learn to live together with all the extra time in their hands, and no mortal dangers in sight. They have lots of sex, and there’s a newfound comfort in lying in their husband’s arms without worrying that someone might comm them with a sudden emergency.

Since they have a house in San Francisco, it’s only fair that they get one in ShiKahr too, with the intention of splitting their time between Terra and Vulcan. It’s a beautiful mansion, with extra bedrooms to host friends and family, and a garden Jim takes immediate interest in.

They soon settle into a comfortable routine. Jim brings some plants over from earth, just like Amanda had done with her own garden, and they even adopt a pet Sehlat much like the one Spock had cherished as a child.

Still, Vulcan is admittedly a quiet place for someone like Jim, who’d fled Iowa before he’d even grown a beard and had spent his whole life stretched between big cities and crowded starships. He is happy, and he loves his husband, but sometimes he finds himself longing for a bit of liveliness. He misses the energy of his young academy students, even if at the time he had found them completely exhausting.

It’s a particularly slow day and they’re quietly sitting on their comfortable couch, Jim mindlessly reading from his PADD and Spock sipping tea, its strong spicy scent filling Jim’s nostrils. That’s when Jim, thinking now is as good a time as any, pops the question he’s been brewing for a few weeks.

“Do you regret not having children, Spock?”

Spock stills, clearly taken aback by the sudden inquiry. 

“I cannot say I do,” he says finally, raising an eyebrow. “We both reached the conclusion, early in our relationship, that our careers and busy schedules were unsuitable for raising children. I find myself sharing that sentiment, still. It would’ve been illogical and cruel to put a living creature through a childhood of physical and emotional insecurity. Why are you asking, Jim? Do you have regrets?”

Jim puts down his padd and takes off his glasses, slumping on the couch with a deep sigh. “I don’t know,” he says, “the house does seem empty sometimes. And we have so much money we don’t really need…” he shrugs.

Spock blinks, looking pensive. “Are you suggesting we should have a child now?” he asks, a bit hesitant.

“God, no. No offense, Spock, but we’re old. Or rather I’m old, you’re beautiful, you and your vulcan longevity.” he smiles fondly, “No. I just…sometimes, I wonder what it would’ve been like, is all. Having a little Spock running around.”

Spock nods once. He says nothing, but he doesn’t need to. Jim feels the quiet acknowledgement through the bond. He cuddles against Spock’s side, breathing in his husband’s smell.

 

***

A week after that, Jim wakes up and joins Spock in the kitchen for breakfast. As usual, his husband had gotten up before him, not having to sleep as much, and had prepared for both. Jim greets him with a yawn and a “Good morning, love,” and goes for a piece of toast, only to find a stack of papers next to his plate. 

He picks it up, intrigued. Spock says nothing and continues to munch on his fruit, quietly waiting for Jim’s reaction.

Jim quickly skims through the first paragraphs, his eyes widening with sudden realization. “Foster care, Spock?” he says dumbfounded, his mind dancing around Spock’s silent suggestion.

Spock nods. “I pondered a lot on our earlier conversation. Granted, we are far too old to consider having children of our own, but I am of the opinion that this could be an ideal compromise. We could be of help to children who have been abused or neglected, and with our connections to starfleet and the VSA, we might even discover a few talents among them. There is no shortage of children and teenagers in need, most unfortunately.”

It was true. Though there had been significant improvements in the way adoptions and foster care were handled in the previous decades, there was still a disturbing number of kids in the system.

And Jim…fuck, Jim is physically too incapable to be confronted with someone in need and do nothing. Spock knows. It’s in his DNA, and it’s also one of the reasons Spock is alive now.

And so Jim beams, smiling like an idiot. With a few long steps, he’s at Spock’s side, wasting no time before claiming his lips in a long, deep kiss. “Spock, yes. It’s a fantastic idea. Let’s do it.” Jim’s enthusiasm swirls in the back of Spock’s mind, a warm, all-encompassing wave. He kisses back.

 

***

 

It’s not easy.

The first two kids they foster, Vulcan twins Stonak and T’Laia, had been heavily neglected since an early age. As children, they were constantly exposed to the violent emotions of their unstable parents, and in addition they were never taught how to shield, which had caused them to subconsciously absorb the grief and despair of their home. As a result, Stonak was prone to violent outbursts, while T’Laia had retreated into a shell nobody and nothing seemed able to get past.

Spock finds himself spending a lot of time with Stonak. He is patient and calm and, with much effort, he succeeds in teaching Stonak the ropes of shielding and encourages him to process his anger and grief through meditation. He can relate a lot with the child; he, too, as a kid, had found it hard to control his emotions without suppressing them in unhealthy ways, his human side making it all the harder. 

On the other hand, Jim adores T’Laia. He tries to engage her in some garden work, or shows her the geography of the milky way, or reads her some terran stories, trying not to be discouraged by her silences and her difficulties. And, here and there, he can see a little spark in her otherwise completely blank eyes.

The first time Stonak and T’Laia hug them of their own volition, Jim and Spock feel like they’ve just conquered the whole galaxy.

 

The third kid they foster, a Terran girl, had lost her parents to the Klingons. The peace treaties reached thanks to their last mission on the Enterprise were still going strong, but from time to time isolated groups of Klingon rebels attacked Federation colonies, leaving a trail of blood in their wake. Jim sheds a few tears when reading the girl’s papers. Though he recovers quickly, Spock can sense the stifling memory of Jim’s only biological son, David, who had met the same terrible fate so many years before.

Auli’i was born to be an artist. Soon, Kirk and Spock’s fridge is completely covered in drawings of their little family (including Stonak and T’Laia), but even when they get taken down to make room for others, Kirk and Spock never dream of throwing them away.

 

And so it goes on. T’Qara. Julius. Xiu. Sevik. Evelyn. T’Mei. Anastasiya. Their home is bursting and their lives are hectic. At some point, with twelve foster kids running around, their house starts looking like an orphanage. With the only difference that Jim and Spock love those kids with all their hearts.

 

When the time comes for them to let Stonak and T’Laia go, they look at each other in the eye and find that they absolutely cannot do it.

 

They adopt them all.

 

***

 

“Well I’ll be damned.” Bones sighs before going directly for the tequila, “I should have known,” he pours himself a generous amount, “I should have known you two would’ve done something absurd with all that time in your hands, but this goes beyond even my wildest expectations. Twelve, Jim? Twelve kids? Didn’t know about your rabbit ancestors.”

Jim laughs, watching bones empty his glass from his PADD screen, the image slightly warped because of the distance. “Yep. Twelve. Couldn’t leave any of them behind. It would’ve killed us, quite honestly.”

Bones sighs again, slamming the glass on the desk with a loud clank. “Well, you do have a history of insanity and delusions of grandeur. Can’t say I’m all that surprised. How’s the hobgoblin doin’ with all that noise and mess?”

Another snort, “Surprisingly well, if you ask me. You should see him, Bones. He is so smitten with them. I would dare say he’s enjoying this even more than I am”

This time, it’s Bones who smiles knowingly, “Well this means I gotta visit your clan soon. Can’t miss that kind of blackmail material, right?”

“I would be very disappointed if you did, Bones.”

They laugh together for a few seconds, then Bones comes closer to his PADD, his hands neatly folded on the desk, and looks at him in the eye, dead serious.

“Are you happy, Jim?”

Jim nods solemnly. “Immensely.” he says, and he means it.

Bones raises his hands in acknowledgement. “That’s the only thing I want for you, Jim. Happiness. Even if I have to bring twelve presents the next time I visit. Look at me, a lifetime spent saving your asses and this is how I squander my credits.”

“Only twelve, Bones? Nothing for your old crewmates?” Teases Jim.

“Ah, fuck off.”

“Love you too, Bones.”

 

***

 

Bones visits a month later.

He brings fourteen presents.

He also catches Anastasiya practicing her makeup skills on a very willing Spock.

 

***

 

The years go by, and their children grow up at warp speed.

Stonak gets accepted at the Vulcan Science Academy. Spock is pretty sure he’s never been more proud in his whole life, and Jim’s knowing smile tells him that he knows exactly how he’s feeling.

T’Laia becomes an eco terrorist, even though she vehemently rejects Spock’s definition and prefers “environmental activist”, thank you very much. Jim finds Spock frowning at the holovids, and laughs at his husband’s un-Vulcany expression. The news are reporting the latest stunt of the quasi-pirate ship T’Laia has embarked on, this time on a mission to save some alien life forms endangered by reckless federation miners. Jim is proud of her. He didn’t raise their children to be indifferent to the suffering of others, and his child is doing well for herself.  
One day, she comes home with both sides of her head shaved and a long french braid in between, dyed in a very bright pink. And dear god, a tattoo. Spock almost faints. 

Jim tells him, I became a pirate too, once. To save you. She really is her father’s daughter. And Spock concedes.

 

Auli’i enrolls in a prestigious art academy in San Francisco, but soon discovers that the therapeutic effect art has on her is completely lost in a highly stressful, fiercely competitive environment. She opens an organic farm, and paints in her free time. A breathtaking Orion girl takes special interest in her blueberries, and that’s how her own story starts.

 

T’Qara gets accepted in Starfleet, in the xenolinguistics branch, something Uhura had never doubted she would achieve.

 

Julius becomes a vet. Xiu goes into social work. T’Mei, stubborn girl that she is, wants to be president of the Federation.

 

Little Anastasiya becomes the youngest Starfleet captain in history, and Jim is fucking worried but also fucking proud and he can’t stop hugging and hugging and hugging her. He’ll never stop being worried, after all he knows, he knows so well the dangers she’s about to face, but that’s his cross to bear.

 

One by one, those kids who had seemed so helpless and fragile find their path in the world.

 

Jim and Spock hold hands, and worry, and rejoice, and love each other every day more.

 

***

 

Many, many years later, when all of their children have left the nest and Jim has peacefully passed away, there is still one picture Spock can’t get enough of.

He keeps several copies of it, a small one tucked in his robes at all times.

It portrays their 50th anniversary in the San Francisco house. They had invited all their old crewmates from the Enterprise, the members of their families who were still alive and even some of their students at the academy, who by then had gone on to have exciting and fulfilling careers.

Spock looks at Kirk’s face, his plush lips shaped in an “o”, clearly overwhelmed by the giant cake his husband had secretly ordered for them. He is at his side, showing a rare smile, blissful and content. Right behind them, Stonak, T’Laia and the rest of their beautiful kids, among which had found their way even an Andorian and a Deltan. And then Uhura, Chekov, Scotty, Sulu, Bones, Janice, Christine, Sarek, Saavik, Dr. Taylor, even Jim’s nephew Peter, and all their families. All smiling, all happy to celebrate Jim and Spock’s accomplishment, all expressing their joy according to their species’ peculiarities.

Of all the moments he’d lived through, Spock thinks that this particular moment is the closest to perfection he’s ever experienced.

It’s a tangible testament of Jim’s greatest gift to him. A love so big it begged for infinite outlets, and for some unfathomable reason, Spock had been so fortunate to be one of them.

He sips his tea, lost in thought. In the hallway, Jim’s old mechanical clock ticks soundly.

The ShiKahr house is quiet.


End file.
